THE MAYR THERAPY, A TREATMENT FOR THE INTESTINE

OUR HEALTH DEPENDS ON THE INTESTINE !

The Mayr Therapy (in German, Mayr-Kur) was created by the Austrian doctor and researcher, Franz Xaver Mayr (1875-1965), who devoted his life to the study of the digestive apparatus: esophagus, stomach, liver, and – above all – guts. The intestine is our most important and the most refined organ, and the most essential to life, as it makes us assimilate the external reality (food) to turn it into an internal reality (body). It is such a complex organ, that so far, it has been the most difficult to transplant and the average survival rate of intestine transplant recipients is the lowest among all transplant patients. It is thus no wonder that Mayr’s conclusion was: our health depends primarily on the intestine! He observed that when the intestine is worn down, practically all other organs of the body are affected; and inversely, when the conditions of the intestine improves it heals many disorders that apparently had nothing to do with it. Some of the most common disorders that respond well to the Mayr Therapy are the ones I have described on this site, and in the menu on the right side of this page I have listed some of them that apparently have nothing to do with digestion.

DETOX

The body process through which the Mayr Therapy achieves healing is that of detoxification. This is because the intestine – besides being the assimilator organ par excellence – is likewise the best detoxifying organ, and the diet prescribed in the Mayr treatment is specifically intended to boost its detoxifying function to the utmost. Flushing toxins out of the body during the treatment is very important, and though unpleasant, is achieved through the expulsion of abundant putrid diarrhea, ammonia-smelling urine and malodorous sweat.

A PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE

What really is the Mayr Therapy? It is very difficult to describe in few words without minimizing this real philosophy of life: its principles are in fact much more innovative and elaborate than one might infer from a hasty and approximate overview of the therapy alone.  One of these is to let digestive system rest (fasting), and is always done in the first 1-3 days of treatment, and is based on the same principles expressed in the formula: “detoxification, first step to health.”  Its most original and innovative point, in fact, consists in finding the more appropriate diet for each individual after the fasting stage. Mayr often emphasized that “rather than learning to fast, we have to learn how to eat.”

THE MAYR DIET

Actually, the diet is the most innovative part of the Mayr Therapy. But this diet differs completely from the “dieting” methods we are used to today. It would be more appropriate to call it the optimal diet for each individual. To act on various diseases through a diet is not an outdated concept – as one is tempted to think, given the great progress of medicine – but is one of the most powerful means of healing today, provided one does it in the correct manner. In the Mayr Diet you have no complicated “recipes,” no precise plan on what to eat at this and that time of the day, no mountain of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and even “a lot of meat and soup.”  In short, there is no imposition of foods. It is true that among all foods, particular emphasis is put on full-cream, mountain, organic milk and yogurt, which Mayr considered the best aids to the intestine. But this only applies to those who tolerate and love them; for others the optimal diet for each one can be identified even without milk and yogurt. In any case the Mayr Diet is highly personalized and, above all – to be truly beneficial – it must be pleasant to the person, so that many will find it the most agreeable diet at that moment. In particular, you never feel the pang of hunger but quite the reverse. You feel much more satiated and satisfied than before. In short: it has to be the optimal diet for each person at that time in his/her life. And all this will need absolute commitment and patient cooperation.

MAYR THERAPY, NOT ONLY DIETS

The Mayr treatment lasts about 1.5 months and is done mainly at home. Only in the early days is it essential that it is physically supervised by a doctor who specializes in this technique, and who sets the cure and does a special abdominal massage. Actually the Mayr Therapy is not just about diets: it also includes a gentle abdominal massage and drinking of sulphated waters. Thereafter the doctor will monitor the patient – who at that point, he will already know well, including above all his gut – by phone or email. After about three weeks of the strict diet, the patient gradually switches to a transitory diet, and finally to a normal and enjoyable diet to keep for life, which will surely be much healthier and satisfactory than what he had before the treatment. Mayr continuously stimulated his students to do everything possible to improve the therapy more and more and I followed his advice, in particular, by trying to fit it to the mentality and habits of people today. By the way, I found the association with some particular physiotherapy techniques very beneficial to the guts.

THE MAYR-THERAPY WILL HELP YOU LEARN TO MANAGE YOUR DIET, WHICH IS THE FIRST SECRET OF GOOD HEALTH!